A web cache is widely used to reduce network traffic between network devices. The web cache primarily receives contents from a catch server, rather than a content server, using a cache server which stores contents between the content server and a portable terminal. Herein, an Internet service provider can install the cache server in an intra network and thus lessen external Internet traffic.
However, since a general web cache service classifies the contents using Uniform Resource Location (URL) information of Hypertext Transfer Transport Protocol (HTTP), it is difficult to apply it to various application layer protocols. As the same contents often have different URLs in the Internet, the web cache is effective only within the network.
In a mobile communication system for wireless communication, transmission/reception errors of packets transmitted and received by the portable terminal greatly increase compared to wired communication. Due to a plurality of portable terminals residing in vicinity, it is hard to share the cache information with all of the portable terminals and the continuous communication is infeasible because of the mobility of the portable terminals.
As a result, the portable terminals cannot share their cache. In this regard, a method and an apparatus for efficiently sharing the cache between the portable terminals are demanded.